The Bluebell Informant Cover Design: Part 1

I think it is fairly safe to say that I am on the last stretch with The Bluebell Informant.

Having drafted and redrafted it, left it alone and redrafted it again, I am finally coming to the point where there are only a few little issues that I need to resolve before I am ready to put the first D.S. Giles story out into the real world.

I’m starting to look at novel and novella writing competitions, I’m looking up agents and publishers, and (most importantly) I am starting to plan my own marketing strategy and book promotion work…

This is where a lot of people get stumped.

‘Why are you bothering with the book promotion work?’ they ask. ‘If your story is any good, surely the publishers will do that all for you?’

Alas, and to my very great regret, that is no longer the case.

True, there used to be a time when the writer wrote the story, made the guest appearances and that would be the end to it. But nowadays, with so many people fighting to get their books in to the hands of the people who matter (i.e. the readers), publishers are now holding back their money and time for only the big named authors – you know the ones I mean, the authors you immediately think of when I say the word ‘fiction’.

Nowadays, it is largely left up to the author to promote their own work.

And why not?

No one knows the book better than I do. No one else can understand the intricacies of the story I am trying to tell. No one else can drop those little hints about the upcoming books that I haven’t even written yet…

So, rather than seeing it as a burden, I see it as an opportunity. And, as with any opportunity, I have to grasp it firmly with both hands if I want it to succeed…

This leads me to my little revelation of this week. I have been working on the cover for The Bluebell Informant…

For those of you who have followed my exploits from the word go, you may remember that I don’t consider myself much of an artist. But I do have a very strong vision when it comes to what I would like to see on my book cover. As such, when I had a moment or two spare this week, I sat down with a selection of coloured pens and quickly sketched out what I think my front cover should look like – how I think the cover should address the themes of my story.